Let's see your Skilsaw #77 Worm Drives!

[Farmall450]

I'm thinking about picking up one of these. I assume anything under $50 is a decent deal?
The one I am looking at has the steel handle and a beat up case. Looks like a decent restore project.

Aluminium! And yup, I've got the same one which I intend to do the same with. Should shine up nicely.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

If you're buying an unknown used one, fire it up and listen to it run. There's a good chance it might need bearing(s) but all are still available. Look at the arc coming off the commutator for both brushes, it should be small and the same from both, if it's large off both, inspect the commutator after removing one brush, a burned bar can be indicative of an open in the armature windings, that can add $90-$150 to have it rewound. Look in the gearbox at the oil color and level, if it's got a gold tint from a worn worm wheel, they're not readily available anymore or if it has brass smeared on the steel worm, also a deal breaker. Look behind the blade where the arbor exits the gear case for signs of an oil leak, also look in the cooling slots ahead of the fan where the armature shaft enters the staircase for oil, those are the only two dynamic oil seals and they're prone to failure on a saw that's what for a long time without being run. Good luck!

 

[lafester]

Thanks for the tips! Fortunately it is cheap enough (and close enough) that I am not worried even if it is completely shot. Could probably make my money back just on the case. Supposedly it is one owner handed down so we shall see.

 

[lafester]

Just got back with my $25 saw. Damn thing weighs a ton with the box.
I'm also getting a free one with plastic handle so it will be interesting to compare the two.

Here are a couple pics.

UPDATE:

I took apart the saw and the guard / foot / bottom of saw had lots of grease cement clogging up everything however the inside of the saw is nice and clean. I know he put fresh oil in but he must have cleaned it out as well. The cord was a disaster and I am amazed it didn't shock him when he plugged it in. The inner connection wires were all cracked and bare going down about 2 inches and the plug end had the ground wire broken off. Luckily I had a replacement with pretty much the identical gauge wire sitting here along with a brand new plug.

Heat worked pretty well getting the grease cement off and I just need to grab some brake cleaner to finish it up. I have a new blade sitting here as well that should work fine for now. The box is going to take some serious attention to make it nice... I'll start with just making it usable.

 

[SAA44-40]

Just picked up this 825 from a nice man in his 70s- who said it was his granddads. Note the receipt stating bushings were replaced in 1964. Came with lube and penetrating oil.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

That's a mighty fine looking 825 you've got there. I don't believe the ticket was indicating bushings being replace, that machine is all ball bearings, five of them. It looks like the brushes were replaced and possibly the commutator on the armature cut? That would at least make sense but be rather labor intensive for only $8 even back in 1964.

 

[SAA44-40]

Thanks block. Looking forward to getting into it. Are new brushes gonna be hard to source?

I checked the oil- it was the consistency of dried peanut butter.

 

[Farmall450]

That's a mighty fine looking 825 you've got there. I don't believe the ticket was indicating bushings being replace, that machine is all ball bearings, five of them. It looks like the brushes were replaced and possibly the commutator on the armature cut? That would at least make sense but be rather labor intensive for only $8 even back in 1964.

That's what it reads to me, too; I mean if they had to spin it up in a lathe I could see it being expensive. Imagine that level of PM in a tool today...shocking!

Great find on the 825.

 

[Farmall450]

Just got back with my $25 saw. Damn thing weighs a ton with the box.
I'm also getting a free one with plastic handle so it will be interesting to compare the two.

Here are a couple pics.

UPDATE:

I took apart the saw and the guard / foot / bottom of saw had lots of grease cement clogging up everything however the inside of the saw is nice and clean. I know he put fresh oil in but he must have cleaned it out as well. The cord was a disaster and I am amazed it didn't shock him when he plugged it in. The inner connection wires were all cracked and bare going down about 2 inches and the plug end had the ground wire broken off. Luckily I had a replacement with pretty much the identical gauge wire sitting here along with a brand new plug.

Heat worked pretty well getting the grease cement off and I just need to grab some brake cleaner to finish it up. I have a new blade sitting here as well that should work fine for now. The box is going to take some serious attention to make it nice... I'll start with just making it usable.

I like that second saw, too. At first I thought the blade was backwards, and then I saw the teeth. That's the only bad thing, people seem to run these hard on concrete. Which I suppose makes sense- they'll do it.

 

[lafester]

I haven't seen the second one yet... Tomorrow maybe. I didn't mean literal concrete, just freaking hard *** grease that will not come off.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Farmall450]

I was just referencing your last picture, and the diamond blade on it.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Thanks block. Looking forward to getting into it. Are new brushes gonna be hard to source?

I checked the oil- it was the consistency of dried peanut butter.

New brushes shouldn't be hard to source and they last a long time, I'll have to dig up where I last got a set from. peanut butter consistency oil is bad! It should pour more like thin molasses and a little more transparent in color closer to pancake syrup.

 

[lafester]

I was just referencing your last picture, and the diamond blade on it.

Ahhh. Didn't notice that. We'll see how bad it is when it gets here.

So I am having trouble getting the guard on correctly. I just can't get the damn spring in so it has tension in the right direction. Really frustrating and I feel like it is something simple I am missing.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is my contribution to this thread. An old carpenter friend of mine gave me this saw that he had an extra of. I rarely use it but it occasionally comes out for jobs too big for my battery DeWalt. The box is unrelated to the saw and is too small for the saw to fit in. I grabbed it at a Nevada estate sale for the deteriorating leather handle.
-Don

 

[Retroman]

I'm impressed. A dozen posts in and no one has posted one with the blade guard disabled or removed.

At one time that used to be pretty common. Grounds for immediately firing on Metro's jobs all 26+ years I worked there.

Ya hard lesson to learn my brother and I were stacking houses just to survive in the recession of the early 80's, I was cutting the backing for him and was probably 22 or 23 years old and had know carpenter experience. For some reason I wedged the blade guard up and cutting off a saw horse cut thru the 2 x 4 then and dropped that 825 worm drive saw right in my thigh. Lesson learned the hard way.
I still have that saw as my Brother bought a new one about 10 years ago. I need to dig it out and do a refresh on it.

 

[Retroman]

Here's a little preview of a Skil 77 Blue Label that I restored a while back
Before
View media item 61243
After
View media item 61267View media item 61271View media item 61273
Check out the full restore thread here

Here's a little preview of a Skil 825 Blue Label that I restored
Before
View media item 66250
After
View media item 66299View media item 66304View media item 66306
Check out the full restore thread here

And here's a little preview of my overall vintage tool collection, most of which is vintage Skil
View media item 61323

What brand and color of paint is that? great job.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

They are tough saws. You have no idea how hard we had to work to burn one out so we could get a sidewinder replacement.

 

[Farmall450]

Ya hard lesson to learn my brother and I were stacking houses just to survive in the recession of the early 80's, I was cutting the backing for him and was probably 22 or 23 years old and had know carpenter experience. For some reason I wedged the blade guard up and cutting off a saw horse cut thru the 2 x 4 then and dropped that 825 worm drive saw right in my thigh. Lesson learned the hard way.
I still have that saw as my Brother bought a new one about 10 years ago. I need to dig it out and do a refresh on it.

Oh man. Could lose a lot of blood after that.

 

[Agrove27]

started dismantling my model 77 tonight. I saw a date of 1977 inside the little cap over the trigger. it's pretty dirty, hardly any oil inside. everything looked good except for all the saw dust which appeared to be oil soaked. looks like someone took it apart at some point and tried to put new gaskets on to seal it up.

 

[Farmall450]

Hopefully you can get it cleaned up!

 

[BradTaylor]

I ran across this forum looking for saws. I thought I would share my obsession!
I have 5 of the 9/11 commemorative saws

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Brad, you're not alone. Though I have several of different types, I've been unable to convince my wife to let me put them in the house (despite much effort) so they reside in the garage. This is about 3/4 of my collection so far.

 

[Farmall450]

I ran across this forum looking for saws. I thought I would share my obsession!
I have 5 of the 9/11 commemorative saws

Wow! Any closeups? Amazing.

 

[jonshonda]

Another day, another GJ member added, another obsession identified and documented.

Welcome to GJ, kiss your savings goodbye!

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I ran across this forum looking for saws. I thought I would share my obsession!
I have 5 of the 9/11 commemorative saws

Wow! I remember that saw mentioned on here before. I didn't know they were limited to only 250! Welcome to GJ and please share more on that amazing saw collection. +1 on the close ups of the 9/11 saws.

 

[Farmall450]

Wow! I remember that saw mentioned on here before. I didn't know they were limited to only 250! Welcome to GJ and please share more on that amazing saw collection. +1 on the close ups of the 9/11 saws.

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL: I have always liked the look of the Skilsaw worm drive, but I bought a new Milwaukee maybe close to 30 years ago and it just won't give up so I bought another used Milwaukee to use for cutting scraps.

here's a few of my old circular saws and anybody want to say why i should buy a Skilsaw other than it has a nice aluminum body and case? or was Skilsaw maybe bought out by Milwaukee and my Milwaukee is actually a newer Skilsaw?

some of you have some nice collections and and a few of you have a really nice skilsaw.

while we are talking about saws i picked up a bunch of diablo and dewalt blades for mine and wondering which blades you guys prefer and how many teeth?

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Just picked up a nice, older blue label 77 for $25 with a case and extra blades. As a bonus, the bearing feel perfect, the worm and wheel both are in excellent shape too. The armature is toast, blowing sparks all over the place, looks like a total lightning show when I fire it up and rewinding is like very expensive so here it sits, looking pretty and almost completely useless, what a bummer.

 

[Farmall450]

Well, worse case you have some parts. Probably weren't looking to put it into heavy use anyhow.

 

[JRSchowe]

Howdy!
Just picked up a brand new (old stock), American made 77 at a flea market. Still has the twist tie on the cord and the red plastic guard on the shoe. Metal blue box, original receipt, sweet T-shirt offer ��, and manual.
Couldn’t believe it it was a 77, let alone unused, when I opened the box.
Probably paid more than I should have, but still way less than a new model (just a tad more heavy).

 

[Farmall450]

Howdy!
Just picked up a brand new (old stock), American made 77 at a flea market. Still has the twist tie on the cord and the red plastic guard on the shoe. Metal blue box, original receipt, sweet T-shirt offer ��, and manual.
Couldn’t believe it it was a 77, let alone unused, when I opened the box.
Probably paid more than I should have, but still way less than a new model (just a tad more heavy).

Wow, that's awesome!

More pictures please

 

[slogan98]

I am new here and joined to get some advice, hopefully.

I have a Skil 77 in a metal box that I am guessing is 50's era. It was given to me by a older guy and it belonged to his dad. It does work and is in decent shape. I thought about ebay but it would probably cost a fortune to ship. I don't need it and would like it to be appreciated by someone. I am in Houston Any comments or suggestions?
TIA
Steve

 

[Farmall450]

I would put an ad in the classifeds here and see if a member is interested and nearby.

 

[mike93lx]

Any thoughts of a dirty, but functioning type 12? Thinking about picking one up locally and cleaning it up. $50 decent?

 

[Farmall450]

Fair. I'd go as low as possible unless it's a pal

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Three things are imperative to check:

1) Gearbox, if the oil is clean, that's good, if there's none it's been abused (bad) or the seals are gone (typical) and need to be replaced. The big thing is to look for brass smeared on the steel worm, if there's any deposited or the worm has gotten hot, the parts that are no longer available are toast.

2) Commutator, if one bar is burnt or lifted, there's an open or it needs a new commutator, either situation requires the armature to be rewound for almost the cost of a brand new worm saw. Definitely not worth it.

3) Body & shoe, has it been dropped? A shoe can possibly be bent back to being flat, the cast aluminum body is susceptible to having parts broken, if any aluminum is bent, it will break when trying to bend it back cold!

$50 is a meh deal, we need pictures.

Regarding the commutator, look at the arc behind both brushes, it should be minimal and uniform across the depth of the brush.

 

[mike93lx]

Three things are imperative to check:

1) Gearbox, if the oil is clean, that's good, if there's none it's been abused (bad) or the seals are gone (typical) and need to be replaced. The big thing is to look for brass smeared on the steel worm, if there's any deposited or the worm has gotten hot, the parts that are no longer available are toast.

2) Commutator, if one bar is burnt or lifted, there's an open or it needs a new commutator, either situation requires the armature to be rewound for almost the cost of a brand new worm saw. Definitely not worth it.

3) Body & shoe, has it been dropped? A shoe can possibly be bent back to being flat, the cast aluminum body is susceptible to having parts broken, if any aluminum is bent, it will break when trying to bend it back cold!

$50 is a meh deal, we need pictures.

Regarding the commutator, look at the arc behind both brushes, it should be minimal and uniform across the depth of the brush.

Thanks for the background. I ended up passing after finding parts availability was a problem, plus I really don't need another saw.

For my use, my PC sidewinder is really plenty and a 7.25" cordless would be more useful

 

[Bigblockyeti]

I don't need another saw either, but I'm always looking.

 

[buckspooker]

Here is an early Skil worm drive. it was part of my grandfather's collection that I inherited. I know he used it but I have not plugged it in.

 

[Farmall450]

Here is an early Skil worm drive. it was part of my grandfather's collection that I inherited. I know he used it but I have not plugged it in.

Looks like he was cutting bricks or concrete with the poor old gal. They're tough units, though. Make sure it's grounded!